Energy efficiency advocates are working to enlist broader support and leverage existing influential backers at a time when government commitment is becoming more uneven across North American jurisdictions.

Ontario offers funds for low-carbon innovation

Monday, March 5, 2018

The Ontario government has pledged up to $300 million in seed funding to advance low-carbon technologies and/or implement strategies to make greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction more economically viable. Ontario-based companies and organizations will have until May 7, 2018 to submit their concepts to the newly announced GreenON Challenge.

“This program demonstrates Ontario’s support for innovative thinkers creating projects that will help achieve major greenhouse gas reductions while advancing economic growth,” Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Chris Ballard said earlier today.

This opens up a broad range of possibilities, characterized on the Green Ontario Fund website as initiatives that support “the transformative adoption of low-carbon technologies and processes in buildings or the production of goods.” An accompanying Ministry communiqué cites five fairly vague examples of the types of ideas the fund administrators hope to see, including “new financing mechanisms” and “developing buildings that use dramatically less energy than typical buildings.”

A smaller group of candidates will be chosen from the initial call for proposals and asked to submit more detailed business cases. Selected low-carbon innovation projects must occur in Ontario and be completed within four years. They will not be eligible for any other funds derived from the provincial cap-and-trade program.

“Great ideas are out there. We just need to support our partners in making them a reality,” maintained Parminder Sandhu, interim CEO and chair of the Green Ontario Fund board of directors.

With advancements in digitization, stakeholders can use tools like Fujitsu scanners that help save time and resources when it comes to tackling some of their more onerous tasks – particularly, paperwork.

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